Mobile and/or wireless electronic devices are becoming increasingly popular. For example; mobile telephones, portable media players and portable gaming devices are now in wide-spread use. In addition, the features and accessories associated with certain types of electronic devices have become increasingly diverse. To name a few examples, many electronic devices have cameras, text messaging capability, Internet browsing capability, electronic mail capability, video playback capability, audio playback capability, image display capability and hands free headset interfaces.
A problem today when taking pictures with a mobile phone camera is that it takes quite some time to start up the camera, focus, and take the picture. Many people store their mobile phone in their pocket or in a holster, e.g., a holster mounted on a belt; and in many instances the user locks the mobile phone to avoid inadvertently pressing a key and dialing an unintended phone number. To take a picture, the mobile phone has to be taken out of the pocket or holster; the phone has to be unlocked; and then the camera feature of the mobile phone has to be activated. Then the camera must be focused on the object intended to be photographed and the photograph may be taken by clicking the shutter release key (button, switch, and so on). By this time the photographic moment (also referred to sometimes as photographic opportunity), scene, and so on may have passed and the opportunity for a desired photograph is lost. Although the user of the mobile phone may quickly grab the mobile phone from the pocket or holster, these other mentioned activities waste time and the photographic opportunity may be lost as they are carried out. Although the above problem is pertinent to mobile phones that have camera functions, it also is pertinent to other camera devices, both still cameras and movie cameras.